The Exene Chronicles Is a Beautiful, Brutal Glimpse into 80s Punk Culture

by | Sep 24, 2018 | childhood, history, Identity, Music, Poetry, Popular Culture, Racism, Reading, Representation, The Afro YA

"The Exene Chronicles" Is a Beautiful, Brutal Glimpse into 80s Punk Culture

When I initially read the synopsis of Camille A. Collins’s book, The Exene Chronicles, part of me expected a novel written as a series of letters and poems.

Part of me expected an angsty, maybe slightly melodramatic book about a young Black female punk rock fan writing letters and poems to the lead singer of her favorite band. Instead, I got something more genuine and relatable.

At the center of The Exene Chronicles is Lia, a fourteen year old Black punk fan in the 1980’s living in Coronado, a San Diego suburb. As one of the few Black kids in the area and at school, she befriends Ryan, a white girl her age acting rebellious and grown up to cope with unwanted sexual advances for her pubescent body. When Ryan disappears, Lia uses the punk rock singer Exene Cervenka as a guide to cope with what happened, what led to Ryan’s disappearance, and Lia’s falling out with Ryan.

One notable aspect of the book is the depiction of the joy and tumult that Lia deals with as a Black punk fan. On the one hand, seeing Lia become enraptured with Exene and punk rock through listening to CDs and viewing the 1981 punk rock documentary The Decline of Western Civilization is enjoyable and relatable. During these moments, Lia reminded me of my teenaged self in the early 00’s discovering alternative rock bands Linkin Park and Evanescence through CDs and YouTube.

Although we lived in different decades and listened to different rock subgenres, I really related to Lia’s feeling of alienation and frustration and how punk rock became the catalyst for her to express herself and feel better about her life. Some particularly memorable thoughts Lia (and Ryan) have about Exene is expressed in the following: “And as much as they admired Exene, watching it all unfold bolstered their perception of themselves also, and made them, for a moment, feel fearless — of every place they’d been and wherever it was they were going.”

On the other hand, Lia also experiences racism, not just in the punk rock scene but also in her daily life. Some of the racism is overt, with Lia being called the “n-word” by white people during certain interactions. As a Black reader, I did find these scenes stinging me a bit, especially during one particularly harrowing scene involving Lia encountering Nazi skinhead youth. Other times, the racism is more subtle, Ryan making race “jokes” and Ryan’s mother thinking “Lia should’ve been the one abducted because Black people are used to suffering.”

Skillfully intertwined with racism is a critique of America’s glamorous white middle class standards, toxic masculinity, and sexual assault and harassment. These issues are depicted not only through Ryan and Lia, but also through secondary characters such as Ryan’s younger brother Jeff and the predatory young half-Mexican man, Neil. The book’s point of view alternates between the main characters and the secondary characters, providing a multi-faceted look at some of the ugliest aspects of the American ideal.

Despite the seriousness of the book, Collins manages to add some beauty in the story with lyrical turns of phrase. This writing style was especially notable when reading from Lia’s point of view, displaying her dreamy side. Notable examples of this include, “Many of the songs began in a flurry, the gates open on a racetrack and the horses fly! Played fast and ending abruptly with the slam of a door that gives finality to an argument, the notes standing on tiptoe.”

All in all, this book is a beautiful, brutal glimpse of 80’s punk culture. Lia is a young, alienated Black female punk fan who must navigate a sea of whiteness and racism to define herself on her own terms. Through the highs and lows of punk rock music, Lia’s story of eventual liberation from confining standards inspires all.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

top photo by nappy on Pexels

 

“A Blade So Black” Is a Fantastic Take on “Alice in Wonderland”

by | Sep 24, 2018 | Book Review, Feminism, Racism, Reading, Representation, The Afro YA

“A Blade So Black” Is a Fantastic Take on “Alice in Wonderland”

Alice in Wonderland always struck me as a really dreamy metaphor for coming of age.

The versions of Alice in Wonderland I know best are from the video game Kingdom Hearts and the 2010 live-action Disney film. Both media have their protagonists growing as heroes and as people as they journey through Wonderland. In L. L. McKinney’s A Blade So Black, the heroine comes of age beautifully through trials based in reality as well as fantasy.

Alice Kingston, the book’s protagonist, is a Black teenager living in Atlanta, Georgia, and a warrior known as a Dreamwalker. Together with her mentor, Addison Hatta, she fights Nightmares, creatures that serve as the embodiment of human fear. When Hatta ends up poisoned, Alice must journey deep into Wonderland to search for a cure and face a darkness that threatens Wonderland and the real world.

One of the first things that appealed to me about the book is its striking cover. Designed to look like an ace of spades, it features a dark-skinned Black girl literally poised for battle with her daggers. This cover told me that the heroine was going to kick butt and do some growing, and I had to know what her story was.

Once I started reading the book, Alice won me over as the lead character. Her grief at losing her father, her nervousness and excitement about venturing into Wonderland, and her casual display of her inner fangirl were so relatable. Not to mention that the way she speaks sounds true to life. One of my favorite lines of dialogue goes, “You play too much. Talkin’ ’bout some ‘you’ll have to be specific’. Specific deeze.”

The majority of the secondary cast of characters was enjoyable, too. Addison Hatta struck me as a British, loveable rogue. Alice’s mom will resonate with anyone who has loved and gotten in trouble with a Black parent or family member. Lady Xellon is a noble knight with a soft, protective side, while Odabeth is a princess who humbles graciously. The only characters I didn’t like were Courtney and Chess, who didn’t seem as interesting as the Wonderland characters.

In addition to the characters, the real and fictional settings of Atlanta, Georgia, and Wonderland were memorable. Given that I live in Georgia and have some experience with metro Atlanta, I could easily imagine Alice living around that area and experiencing some supernatural shenanigans. The book’s prologue was especially notable in this regard, as Alice experiences her first supernatural encounter a little ways from Grady Memorial Hospital.

Meanwhile, Wonderland is just as vivid and dangerous as I imagined it would be. McKinney’s world-building and physical descriptions of Wonderland let you see it in your mind’s eye as the story unfolds. Wonderland is particularly stunning when Alice visits it for the first time, and her sense of joy and wonder is sure to be reflected in the reader.

Although Wonderland and ATL are interesting settings on their own, they are even more interesting when they overlap and affect each other. At one point, it is explained that Dreamwalkers are immune to the physical and emotional effects of Nightmares unless the fear is personal. One of Alice’s personal nightmares is becoming a victim of police brutality.

In a couple of paragraphs, the author makes police brutality a literal and metaphorical nightmare. When a black girl named Brionne Matthews is shot and killed by police, the fear that results from her death causes two Nightmare creatures to appear and show Alice the cold reality of having special abilities even as her life is at risk in the real world. Alice wonders, “She’d protected this world, but would anyone protect her?”

Despite her fears of losing her life and losing those she loves, Alice manages to take the first steps to becoming the hero she can be. By focusing her Muchness, the part of her that believes in herself the most, she wields her daggers and a sword to slay Nightmares in a way that is empowering. In a creative nod to Lewis Caroll’s poem “Jabberwocky,” Alice’s heroic journey reaches its climax with the lines, “She left it dead, and with its head, she went galumphing back.”

All in all, A Blade So Black is a fantastic, grounded twist on Alice in Wonderland. With a compelling heroine, a quirky cast of characters, and thought-provoking world-building, A Blade So Black brings adventure, heart, and Black Girl Magic. Whether or not a sequel is in the works, this book alone breaks new ground for retellings and urban fantasy.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

Top photo by nappy on Pexels

 

“Piecing Me Together” Is a Gorgeous Collage of Self-Discovery

by | Sep 24, 2018 | Activism, Book Review, Identity, Racism, Reading, Representation, The Afro YA

"Piecing Me Together" Is a Gorgeous Collage of Self-Discovery

As a Black non-binary queer person, my life and my identity are made up of a variety of experiences and influences.

While I’m more aware of who I am now, there was a time when I just wasn’t sure about it. In Renée Watson’s beautifully written book Piecing Me Together, the main character Jade creates a collage out of her experiences to figure out who she wants to be.

In order for Jade to figure out who she is, she has to wade through experiences and perceptions that allow others to define her.

In order for Jade to figure out who she is, she has to wade through experiences and perceptions that allow others to define her. The main focus of the book is Jade’s experiences with the mentor program Woman to Woman and her Black upper-class mentor Maxine. Jade feels that Maxine is treating her like someone who needs to be fixed. Since Jade is a thick-bodied, dark-skinned, Black girl from a working-class family, she is considered to be an “at-risk” teen in danger of becoming a statistic.

While Jade spends time with Maxine and Woman to Woman, she also encounters other significant experiences in her personal and student life. At her elite high school St. Francis, she befriends a white female student named Sam and learns how their racial backgrounds cause them to be seen differently. Walking alone on the street, men harass her because of her body and their sense of entitlement. When an incident of police brutality occurs in a nearby neighborhood, Jade feels compelled to take action even though she feels helpless.

These experiences make Jade feel that she is constantly coming apart because of how other people see her. She sums it up best with the following lines:

Listening to these mentors, I feel like I can prove the negative stereotypes about girls like me wrong. But when I leave? It happens again. The shattering. And this makes me wonder if a Black girl’s life is being stitched together & coming undone.

These lines made me really connect to Jade as a character because of similar feelings I had as a teenager. Like Jade, I felt like my identity was constantly under attack by expectations and preconceived notions of what a Black person is like. The world told me that Black people couldn’t be geeky, sensitive, and emotionally vulnerable so I learned to hate myself. Unlike Jade, I didn’t have the self-worth and knowledge to define myself on my own terms until my twenties.

Another thought about Jade defining herself on her own terms is expressed when she says,

Sometimes I just want to be comfortable in this skin, this body. Want to cock my head back and laugh loud and free, all my teeth showing, and not be told I’m too rowdy, too ghetto…. Sometimes I just want to let my tongue speak the way it pleases, let it be untamed and not bound by rules.

While I have never been called too rowdy or ghetto by others, these lines made me think of the ideals of respectability that I unconsciously learned from various media and my own parents. I was expected to go to college, get the right degree, and not be too influenced by “bad” Black kids who got pregnant in high school or dropped out. At one point, I was also told not to watch too much BET and not speak too much slang when I wasn’t around my peers.

The world told me that Black people couldn’t be geeky, sensitive, and emotionally vulnerable.

Out of all the ideals of respectability and success, the idea that a Black person needs to escape their “bad” living areas in order to be successful is one of the most pervasive. It is this idea that Jade combats in the book, even as she yearns to travel the world and speak Spanish. Since Jade sees the beauty in her friends, family, and her neighborhood of North Portland, she uses those influences to define herself in a positive way and make her collage art.

Not only does Jade undergo self-discovery with her present day life, but she also uses historical influences from the past. One day, she learns about York, a Black slave who went on the Lewis and Clark expedition. She is drawn to his story because he was having his identity and personal story defined for him. Jade also learns about Black collagists like Romare Bearden and Mickalene Thomas later in the book. Once Jade finally starts speaking up with her actual voice and honing her artistic voice, she combines the past and present for her art and for herself.

Once Jade finally starts speaking up with her actual voice and honing her artistic voice, she combines the past and present for her art and for herself.

Through lived experience, art, and learned history, Jade literally puts together the pieces of who she feels she wants to be. As an artist, daughter, student, and more, Jade refuses to let others define who she is as a Black girl. Jade is a collage worth seeing in all its pieces and glory, and that makes her story powerful.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

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“This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story” Is the Rom-Com We Need

by | Sep 24, 2018 | Book Review, humor, LGBTQIA+, Popular Culture, Reading, Representation, The Afro YA

"This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story" Is the Rom-Com We Need

I’ve always had a soft spot for romantic comedies.

Romance isn’t taken too seriously and there is almost always an interesting cast of characters along for the ride. When it comes to romantic comedies involving LGBTQ+ characters, there are all too few in the world. As a result, I was delighted to discover Kacen Callender’s book This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story. Not only is it written by a Black queer author, but the main characters are queer people of color.

The book tells the story of Nathan Bird, an awkward Black teen and aspiring filmmaker. Nathan Bird doesn’t believe in happy endings due to his dad’s death and a break up with his girlfriend-turned-best friend. When his childhood best friend Oliver “Ollie” James Hernández returns to town, Nathan must decide whether his romantic feelings for Ollie are worth acknowledging.

One of the best aspects of this book is its main lead, Nathan. His awkwardness, quirks, and passion shine through the sensitive voice given to him by the author. His internal dialogue is especially well-done, letting you get a sense of the anxiety he feels when it comes to interacting with others and forming close relationships. One train of thought goes, “I should do something. Ask her out. Tell her she looks nice. Wait, is that catcalling? Even if it’s in hipster cafe and not out on the street? Fucking shit. I’m a catcalling bastard.”

One of the best aspects of this book is its main lead, Nathan. His awkwardness, quirks, and passion shine through the sensitive voice given to him by the author.

Besides Nathan, his old and new love interests are also well written. Florence Lim is a visual artist who often draws Nathan’s favorite movie characters for him. She wants to see Nathan happy with a new love, even though Nathan still isn’t over her. While she has moved on and now has a girlfriend named Lydia, her friendship with Nathan is still important to her.

Meanwhile, Ollie is a deaf teen who aspires to be a photographer. He is as passionate about his art as Ollie is and uses his passion to encourage Ollie to go for his dreams. Ollie also uses a combination of sign language and the notes app of a cell phone to communicate, but this is just an extension of his character. Ollie is never depicted as inspiration porn for Nathan; he is just an everyday teen dealing with family problems and romance.

In addition to the main characters, the secondary cast is also well done. In particular, Nathan’s mom is a nice balance of loving and strict, while Nathan’s sister Rebecca is a close confidant despite her being across the country.  Nathan’s relationship with his mom is poignant because they have to learn to deal with the aftermath of losing Nathan’s dad. Other interesting secondary characters include nerd-jock Gideon and nerdy romantic Ashley, who are mutual friends with Nathan, Flo, and Ollie.

Together, all the characters tell a sweet story of not only romantic love, but also coming-of-age, friendship, and family.

Together, all the characters tell a sweet story of not only romantic love, but also coming-of-age, friendship, and family. Nathan’s interactions with his loved ones are enhanced by smart, fun, and realistic dialogue. One particular conversation I enjoyed between Nathan and Ollie was about having sex for the first time, how awkward they felt and whether they were ready to do so. In fact, this might be the first time I’ve read about sex that wasn’t perfect the first time.

Nathan’s interactions with his loved ones are enhanced by smart, fun, and realistic dialogue.

A more quirky aspect of the dialogue is the various pop culture references throughout the book. Many nods are subtle such as Ollie naming his dog after Donna Noble from Doctor Who and Florence talking about the America Chavez comic book with her girlfriend Lydia. Certain movie references are used in an entertaining way, such as when Ollie and Nico spontaneously reenact a kiss from the film Amelie.

The only flaw I found in this book was the mild confusion I had while reading the interactions between Nathan and his loved ones. There are so many characters that it was a little difficult to keep up with them all. At one point, I had to go back and reread certain parts when I felt like I was missing something.

Nathan and his loved ones will make you smile and yell at them at the same time.

All in all, this book is the teen rom-com we need more of. Nathan and his loved ones will make you smile and yell at them at the same time. Filled with laughter, drama, and honesty, this book is queer coming-of-age bliss.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

top photo by Satria Wira Bagaskara on Pexels

 

“The Poet X” Is a Testament to Self-Expression

by | Sep 24, 2018 | Feminism, Identity, latinx, Poetry, Racism, Reading, Representation, sexism, The Afro YA

“The Poet X” Is a Testament to Self-Expression

As a teenager and budding poet, the very first verse novel I can recall reading is Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes.

Told from the point of view of many diverse high school students in a slam poetry style, it wasn’t hard for me to enjoy. However, the brief glimpses into the characters’ personal lives weren’t enough for me to completely love the book. After finishing Elizabeth Acevedo’s The Poet X, I feel like it filled the gaps that Bronx Masquerade had.

The Poet X tells the story of Xiomara, an Afro-Latina teen who feels suffocated by her mother’s strict religious parenting and frustrated by the way the world perceives her as a brown girl with burgeoning sexuality. For a while, she writes down her truest thoughts in secret, convinced that no one will want to hear them. After being severely punished for daring to explore her sexuality and attraction to her male classmate Aman, she decides to join her school’s slam poetry club and finds the courage to express herself.

For a while, she writes down her truest thoughts in secret, convinced that no one will want to hear them.

One of the first things about the book I noticed was Xiomara’s poetic voice. Even prior to joining the poetry club, it is very distinctive, powerful, and vivid. In the early pages of the book, there is a page called “Names” in which Xiomara explains the origins of her name and the impact of it, evoking the image of a defiant warrior. Her personality is summed up in the following lines: “My parents probably wanted a girl who would sit / in the pews / wearing pretty floral and a soft smile. / They got combat boots and a mouth silent / until it’s sharp as an island machete.”

Although Xiomara initially keeps her thoughts secret, her struggle and desire to speak and act on them is always apparent. This is especially telling in the homework assignments that she turns in for her English class. While the first drafts of those assignments are honest, the final drafts are toned down to convey what Xiomara thinks her teacher, Ms. Galiano, wants to hear. Later, the fact that Ms. Galiano truly cares for Xiomara’s deepest thoughts becomes a key factor in Xiomara’s decision to join the poetry club.

Although Xiomara initially keeps her thoughts secret, her struggle and desire to speak and act on them is always apparent.

Ms. Galiano’s support of Xiomara is one of the most touching aspects of the book. She is patient enough to let Xiomara join the poetry club when she is ready and a caring enough teacher to gently nudge Xiomara toward slam poetry by introducing it in one of her classes. Later, she even becomes one of Xiomara’s shoulders to cry on after a tumultuous confrontation with her mother. Ms. Galiano reminds me of a Black high school literature teacher I had who encouraged my writing and helped me during a difficult time.

Others in Xiomara’s life include Aman, a young man with good intentions that almost always come through. There is Xavier, Xiomara’s genius twin, who tries his best to support Xiomara despite experiencing a very different sexual awakening from hers. But of the entire cast of characters, the character who most resonated with me after Ms. Galiano and Xiomara was Xiomara’s mother.

Xiomara’s mother is both problematic and sympathetic. She wants the best for her daughter but lacks the ability to listen to her daughter without using religion to criticize her. Her religion is a source of strength, because it helped her through the difficult birth of the twins, so she tries to impose it on them to help them be strong too.

Feeling stifled by her mother, her religion, and her peers, Xiomara uses the written word to say what she can’t say aloud.

Feeling stifled by her mother, her religion, and her peers, Xiomara uses the written word to say what she can’t say aloud. Most notably, she uses her words to express her sexual awakening and how women are held to different standards than men in religion and real life. The most surprising poem in the book involves her masturbating, something I rarely read about in YA books involving women of color. The ecstasy and stigma surrounding masturbation is examined, and it is refreshingly realistic to see in a book for teens.

Xiomara discovers slam poetry and starts to become braver and more honest about her feelings.

Ultimately, I believe Xiomara and her story resonated with me so much because she reflects a part of the teen poet I was and the adult poet I am becoming now. My personal favorite pages are when Xiomara discovers slam poetry and starts to become braver and more honest about her feelings. I understand the joy and struggle Xiomara experiences as a poet because I’ve experienced them many times myself. The Poet X is a testament to finding and expressing your personal voice.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

Top photo by Diego Rosa on Unsplash

 

“Miles Morales: Spider-Man” Is a Down to Earth Read

by | Sep 24, 2018 | Book Review, Identity, latinx, Poetry, Popular Culture, Reading, Representation, The Afro YA

“Miles Morales: Spider-Man” Is a Down to Earth Read

Spider-Man is both a title and a character that has morphed and evolved over time.

Although it began as the story of Peter Parker, Spider-Man has since become a mantle taken up by people such as Korean American Cindy Moon and Afro-Latino Miles Morales. At the time of this writing, Miles Morales’ story has been gaining prominence through not only comic books but also the animated film Into The Spider-Verse. Adding to that fame is Jason Reynolds’ 2017 young adult/children’s novel Miles Morales: Spider-Man.

Set in the lively city of Brooklyn, New York, this book examines Miles Morales experiencing a sort of identity crisis. His superpowers are on the fritz and causing him so much trouble at home and school that he is considering hanging up the suit for good. However, Miles soon finds a problem that is affecting both his superhero and civilian lives. Now, he must learn to bridge his past and present as a superhero and teenager in order to defeat an enemy that is all too close to home.

He must learn to bridge his past and present as a superhero and teenager in order to defeat an enemy that is all too close to home.

One of the most palpable aspects of this book is how Miles interacts with the city and neighborhood around him. A really fun scene involves Miles and his best friend Ganke on the subway with showtime boys, young break dancers that appear and dance spontaneously for cash tips. Another lively scene involves Miles and his father Jefferson witnessing some playful banter between customers and the barber at a barbershop. These scenes brings Miles’ neighborhood to life in a way that lets the reader see and feel Brooklyn even if they have never been there.

Besides Miles’ interactions with his neighborhood, his interactions with his friends and family are delightful. In fact, the most entertaining interactions involve Ganke, Miles’ crush Alicia, and Miles’ parents. Miles’ parents have a strict yet loving dynamic with their son, while Ganke is both comedic relief and buoyant support for Miles. Finally, Miles’ interactions with Alicia embody both the clumsiness of teenage crushes as well as a complicated, socially aware drive.

These scenes brings Miles’ neighborhood to life in a way that lets the reader see and feel Brooklyn even if they have never been there.

Enhancing Miles’ interactions with his family and friends are introspective sijo poems that Miles, Alicia, and Ganke learn to write for class. A Korean form of poetry involving three lines between fourteen and sixteen syllables, the sijos written by the characters allow them to express feelings they have a hard time conveying aloud. A sijo poem that shows a more vulnerable side to Miles goes, “I hate my father’s face when he tells me my block is a burden / like my job is to carry a family I didn’t create / like my life is for fixing something I didn’t break.”

Balancing out Miles’ friends and family is the chilling super-villain that Miles faces. Without giving too much away, the villain is a cleverly crafted character that is more than just some kooky super-powered bad guy. The villain is very much rooted in the real world, something that Miles can’t just punch away. Watching Miles slowly figure out the villain’s motives and connect the dots about their plot is gripping, with the final reveal of the villain’s identity shocking the reader and asking them to critique their own lives.

The villain is very much rooted in the real world, something that Miles can’t just punch away.

A final aspect of the book worth commenting on is how self-contained this story is. Even if you have never read a Miles Morales Spider-Man comic book or seen Into the Spider-Verse, you can pick up this book and read it without ever feeling lost or confused. Miles’ superpowers and superhero backstory is casually shown in a way that feels natural rather than an information dump. Some say that comic books are a stepping stone to novels, but this novel is a good gateway to comic books.

Overall, Miles Morales: Spider-Man is a down to earth, thoughtful book that combines the best of superheroics and teenage antics. Miles Morales is both a superhero to himself and a superhero to his loved ones. As he faces a true-to-life villain and learns to balance being a teenager with being a superhero, readers just might discover their own inner super powers too.

The Afro YA promotes black young adult authors and YA books with black characters, especially those that influence Pennington, an aspiring YA author who believes that black YA readers need diverse books, creators, and stories so that they don’t have to search for their experiences like she did.

Latonya Pennington is a poet and freelance pop culture critic. Their freelance work can also be found at PRIDE, Wear Your Voice magazine, and Black Sci-fi. As a poet, they have been published in Fiyah Lit magazine, Scribes of Nyota, and Argot magazine among others.

Top photo by Pixabay on Pexels